I. In the greenest of our valleys, By good angels tenanted, Once fair and stately palace -- Radiant palace --reared its head. In the monarch Thought's dominion -- It stood there! Never seraph spread a pinion Over fabric half so fair.

II. Banners yellow, glorious, golden, On its roof did float and flow; (This --all this --was in the olden Time long ago) And every gentle air that dallied, In that sweet day, Along the ramparts plumed and pallid, A winged odour went away.

III. Wanderers in that happy valley Through two luminous windows saw Spirits moving musically To a lute's well-tuned law, Round about a throne, where sitting (Porphyrogene!) In state his glory well befitting, The ruler of the realm was seen.

IV. And all with pearl and ruby glowing Was the fair palace door, Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing And sparkling evermore, A troop of Echoes whose sweet duty Was but to sing, In voices of surpassing beauty, The wit and wisdom of their king.

V. But evil things, in robes of sorrow, Assailed the monarch's high estate; (Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow Shall dawn upon him, desolate!) And, round about his home, the glory That blushed and bloomed Is but a dim-remembered story Of the old time entombed.

VI. And travellers now within that valley, Through the red-litten windows, see Vast forms that move fantastically To a discordant melody; While, like a rapid ghastly river, Through the pale door, A hideous throng rush out forever, And laugh --but smile no more.

You can't judge a book by its cover.

The only thing that matters is the ending. It's the most important part of the story.

Bix wrote:Is this a test to see if we're reading the poems, Liz? Isn't this the same one as in Tidbit #3, except with a different title and Roman numerals?

I was wondering who would be the first to catch that. I was obviously attracted to the words in this one. Seriously, it's an example of my fading memory that I didn't catch that. For me, his poetry sounds so much the same that it all just kind of runs together--a little like the two stories. Luckily, though, I can say that it was the site I got them from that printed them as such--under two different names. Now I'm really curious if he used two different names for them or if the site made a mistake. Maybe he was trying to make his readers go insane. Here is the site BTW.